Automatic saw-feed apparatus.



T. S, KITCHEN; AUTOMATIC SAW FEED APPARATUS.

v APPLICATION FILED MAR-23, 1912. I

' Patented Mar. 18, 1913.

zsmanws smm 1.

r I P Attorneys,

'Witnesse 37 T. s. KITCHEN.

AUTOMATIC SA W FEED APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23. 1912.

1,056,032 Patented Mar. 18, 1.913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Attorneys.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUTOMATIC SAW-FEED APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 18, 1913.

Application filed March 23, 1912. Serial No. 685,762.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, TRACY S. KrrorIEN, acitizen of the United States, residing at- Huntington, in the county ofGabell and State of lVest Virginia, have invented a new and usefulAutomatic Saw-Feed Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in automatic saw feedapparatus, the primary object of the invention being the provision of ameans controlled by a pressure fluid reciproc'ated saw feed carriage ortruck, whereby the movement of the said carriage or truck too far ateither end of the feed stroke will automatically actuate valves to admitthe pressure fluid to the cylinder controlling the reciprocation of thecarriage or truck, whereby the said carriage is halted in its movementin one direction and started in the opposite direction, and vice versa,the

acting devices disposed in the path of travel of the carriage or truckand carried by said carriage or truck.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a novel form ofcontact "arms disposed in the path of a reciprooa-tory saw feed carriageand operatively connected to the forward and reverse valves of a recip'rocating plunger, the carriage also being provided with ad ustable meansadapted to contact and actuate the said means ln the path thereof tocont-r01 either'one of said With the foregoing and other objects in viewwhich will appearas the description proceeds, the inventionresides inthe combination and arrangement of parts and in the details ofconstruction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood thatchanges in the precise embodiment of invention herein disclosed can bemade within the scope of what is claimed without departing from thespirit of the invention.

In the;drawings-Figure 1 is aside elevation. of a portion of the frameof a saw feed with the carriage or truck operating mechanism and theautomatic control in operable relation, the carriage and the POI": tionof the track adjacent thereto being broken away and tore shortened. Fig.2 is a perspective view of the automatic control .operably disposedbetween thetracks, taken from above. Fig. 3 is one of the adjustablearms for actuating the track mechanism. Fig. 4 is one of the adjustablearms carried by the carriage. Fig. 5 is a view showing the actuatingtrigger thereof in inoperative and locked position.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the usual track uponwhich is reciprocatingly mounted the saw feed carriage 2, provided withthe bolster 3 to which is connected the upright- 4 carried upon theouter free end of the'piston rod 5 whose piston (not shown) is disposedwithin the longitudinally disposed cylinder 6, which has communicatingwith it at opposite ends thereof, the pressure fluid inlet pipes 7 and-'8, which are connected to the cross pipe 9 which receives its pressurefluid from the pipe 10 connected to proper pressure fluid source notshown, the pipes 7 and 8 being exhausts.

The cylinder 6 is controlled in the usual way so thatthe carriage'2 isreciprocated and placed under control of the operator, the .presentinvention, however, relates entirely to an automatic device forpreventing the movement of the carriage too far in either direction, tostop the carriage and cause the same to be reversed and moved in theopposite direction.

Disposed in the connection between the cross pipe 9 and the lower end ofthe pipes 7 and 8 are the'three-way valves 11 and 12,

whose cranks 14 and 15 are connected for.

the valve 15, thus permitting the pressure fluid to fiow from the pipe10 through one terminal of the branch or cross pipe 9 to .the inlet pipe8 to the cylinder 6, to impart to the piston thereof andits rod 5 andthe carriage 2, the proper: movement to the left as viewed in Figs. 1and 2, with relation to the tracks 1 and the saw, not shown. Thismechanism is the usual mechanism employed in sawmills, the rod or link13 being operated manually instead of automatically as will presentlyappear.

Connected to the link 13. is. a lever 16 is? keyed upon the transverseshaft'17' ournaled in brackets 18 disposed upon the under side of therespective tracks 1', and I having upstanding therefrom a crank arm 19,to which is connected one end ot the rod 20, said rod extending belowthe tracks as clearly illustrated in F 1 and 2 and being connectedintermediate of its ends to a crank 21 and at its extreme end to a crank22 which cranks are keyed to the respective transverse shafts 2 3 and lt. The shaft is journaled tor rocking movementin the lower ends 01" thebrackets which are sup ported by and underneath of the track 1; whilethe rocking shaft 2st is supported in the journal brackets 26 parallelto the shaft 23.

Keyed upon the respective shafts 23 and 2st are two upstanding arms 2,which are normally in the position as clearly shown in Fig. 2, each oneof said arms as clearly shown in Fig. consisting of a, main member 28provided with parallel retaining and guide flanges 29 for the slidingrecep tion of the contact plate. 30, the said contact plate being heldin adjusted position by means of the slot and bolt connections 31,whereby the upper end of said plate may be projected or retracted asdesired, for the purpose which will presently appear.

is before stated the upper ends of the plates 80, are projec ed abovethe track to be abutted. by the respective carriage carried arms orfingers 32, there being two of these disposed upon opposite sides of theupright 41:, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 and having their lower pivotedtriggers disposed to engage the respective plates 30, as wil presentlyappear.

As clearly shown in Fig. i, the arm 32 consists of the attaching plate34, and. the downwardly extending main support provided with parallelguide strips which form a guide for the adjustable plate 37. This plate37 is held in the proper adjustment within the support 35 by means. ofthe bolt-and-slot connection 38, the said plate 3'? being provided withthe out-turned lower end 39 and the pair of eyed lugs 10 to which isconnected by means of the pin at, the pivoted trigger 33. The outturnedlower end 39 limits the downward movement of said trigger so to normallyhold it in the inclined position as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and t. Bythis means as the carriage is moved toward the shaft 23, the forwardlyprojecting trigger 33 will engage its respective plate 30 of the shaft23 and rock the shaft and the rod 20 so as to pull the crank arm 19, androck the shaft 17, thus closing the valve 14 and opening the valve 15.The pressure fluid now enters through the pipe 7 into the cylinder 6 toimpart to the carriage a movement in the opposite direction. The firstimpulse of the pressure fluid within the cylinder, checks the move mentof the carriage 2 before starting it in .:is mounted upon the two shafts23 the opposite direction. \Vhen the carriage is moved in the furtherposition to the right as viewed in Fig. 1, the oppositely project ingtrigger 33 will engage its plate 30 upon the shaft- 24. rocking saidshaft 24- so as to cause the crank 22 to push the rod, 20 thus closingthe valve 15 and opening the valve 14 to bring the carriage to a fullstop and cause the pressure fluid to be admitted through the pipe 8 intothe forward. end of the cylinder (3 and impart to the carriage 2 amovement in the opposite direction.

By pivoting the arms or lingers 32 as shown, the toiwvard trigger 33,when in the position as shown in Fig. 1, will move t.o-.

ward the right to slide over theupper end of said plate 30 withoutactuating the same, but any movement in the opposite direction willcause the actuation of the arm 27 as before described.

As shown in l igs. 1 and 2, two arms 27 are placed upon each shaft astwo triggers 33 are carried 'by the carriage 2, this beingprovided sothat one of the arms 27 may be actuated to stop and reverse the flow,while the other is actuated by the o 'ipositely dis posed triggertocontrol the valves 14 and 15 to place the same on center cutting oil.the pressure tluid trom the cylinder 6 and. ln'ingring the carriage 2still.

Although two of the arms 27 are shown and respectively, it is evidentthat any number may be employed and if necessary only one of each may besecured to its re spective shaft, two being shown in this instance sothat a positive and better action may be imparted to the rock shaft 23,and thus insure the manipulation of the valves 14- and 15 from theproper direction and at the proper time.

it may be desired to cut out the automatic manipulation of the rod 20 inone direction. in which event the pivoted trigger 3 ot the desired arm32 may be lifted in the urn'i rht position as shown in Fig. 5 and heldin place by means of the removable pin 19, which is removably n'iountedin the eyed lugs 43 of the adjustable plate 3".

llhat is claimed is:

l. The coi'nbination with a saw feed car-- ria re frame, a saw teedcarriage mounted thereon tor reciprocation, a pressure fluid actuatedmeans disposed in the frame and oporably connected to the carriage forim- Jarting' a reciprocatory movement thereto. valve controlled pressure'tiuid conduits loading to the respective ends of said, cylinder, meansfor actuatingsaid valves one of them to closed position and the other toopen position and vice verse, a pair oi .OChI shafts disposed in saidframe and opcrablv con-- nected to said means and a series of armsprojecting upwardly from said shafts in the to a stand- 1 one of saidpipes path of travel of the case, of a similar number of arms carried byand depending from the carriage adapted to engage said arms to actuatethe valves and cause the cylinder to reciprocate the carriage, said armsof the rock shaft and of the carriage being sectional members and adjustably connected together.

2. The combination with a saw feed frame, a saw feed carriage disposedthereon for reciprocation, a pressure fluid cylinder, a piston rod insaid cylinder op'erably connected to said carriage, pressure fluidconducting pipes disposed at opposite ends of said cylinder foroscillating the piston rod to reciprocate the carriage, a valve disposedin each for controlling the admission of pressure fluid to therespective ends of the cylinder, a link connecting said valves oroperation in unison, one being closed while the other is open, a rockshaft disposed transversely of the frame and operably connected to saidrod, a crank arm carried by said rock shaftand extending upwardly, a rodconnected to said crank arm and extending upwardly, a rod connected tosaid crank arm and extending longitudinally below the frame, twotransversely disposed and parallel rock shafts spaced apart anddepending from the framework and operablyconnected to saidlongitudinally disposed rod, a plurality of arms connected to saidtransversely disposed rock shafts and depending from the carriage, andarranged in alining pairs for co-action due to the reciprocation of thecarriage to actuate the longitudinally disposed rod and valves to admitpressure fluid to the cylinder to re ciprocate the carriage.

3. The combination with a pressure fluid reciprocated saw feed carriage,of means carried by the carriage and disposed in the path thereof tocontrol the cut off and admission of pressure fluid to reciprocate thecarriage, means carried by the carriage consisting of two adjustablydisposed and connected plates, the adjustable plate being provided withan outstanding lip at the lower end thereof, and a pivoted triggerconnected thereto and held in inclined locked position by said lip.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

TRACY S. KITCHEN.

Witnesses: I A. G. HAsEcosTER, L. A. PENNINGTON.

